AIPMM Webcast: Art Of War For The Product Manager3. Founded 1998
Largest Product Management professional group
Provides professional development and
certification
• Certified Product Manager
• Certified Product Marketing Manager
• Agile Certified Product Manager
• Certified Innovation Leader
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
4. Today’s Speakers
Moderator:
Cindy F. Solomon, CPM, CPMM
Founder, Global Product Management Talk
Startup Product http://startupproduct.com
@cindyfsolomon @ProdMgmtTalk @startupproduct
Presenter:
Laura Lee Rose, Business Process & Efficiency Coach
site: http://www.LauraLeeRose.com
blog: http://LauraLeeRose.com/blog
twitter: @laura_lee_rose
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
5. Stay on To Win!
•Keep your Chat box open!
•Post your Questions in the
Questions box during the IT Professional
session for Laura to answer Development
during the Q&A at the end! Toolkit
Participants who ask questions
will be entered into the
drawing. Winner will be
announced at the end of the
session!
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
7. About Laura
• 25 Years in Software Development Industry
– Developer/programmer
– Tester
– Customer Advocate
– Product/Project Manager
– 5 patents
• 1 Process patents
• 4 Product/feature patents
• Business and Efficiency Coach
– One-on-one and Group coaching
– Seminars
– Author
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
8. Administration
• Additional meeting opportunities
– LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
• More information:
– www.LauraLeeRose.com
• Author
– TimePeace: Making peace with time
– Purchase via: Amazon.com
• IT Professional Development Toolkit
– Release in May
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
9. Art of War for Product Managers
• Laying Plans
• Waging War
• Attack by Stratagem
• Disposition of Military Strength
• Use of Energy
• Weakness and Strength
• Maneuvering
• Variation of Tactics
• On the March
• Terrain
• The Nine Varieties of Ground
• Attack by Fire
• Employment of Secret Agents
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
10. Free e-book version of Art of War
http://www.manybooks.net/titles/tzusun132132.html
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
11. Art of War for Product Managers
• Laying Plans
• Waging War
• Attack by Stratagem
• Disposition of Military Strength
• Use of Energy
• Weakness and Strength
• Maneuvering
• Variation of Tactics
• On the March
• Terrain
• The Nine Varieties of Ground
• Attack by Fire
• Employment of Secret Agents
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
12. Laying plans
• What defines a “good project manager”?
• What does this mean to you?
• What are your success criteria?
• If you don’t have criteria and metrics that
defines a “good project manager”, how do you
know you are succeeding?
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
13. Product Manager Mission Statement?
What is your individual product/project manager mission
statement?
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
14. Product Manager Mission Statement?
• Never compromise with honesty
• Be aware of your affect on others
• Remember the people involved
• Be sincere yet decisive
• Open to the counsel of others
• Defect those who are absent
• Plan tomorrow’s work today
• Hustle while you wait
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Keep a sense of humor
• Give others the benefit of the doubt
• Do not be the source of the chaos
• Facilitate the success of others
• Concentrate all ability and effort on the shared goals at hand
• Buffer, protect the people doing the heavy lifting on the project
• Take @AIPMM
© AIPMM 2013 ownership and accountability on your commitments www.aipmm.com
15. Laying plans
• What’s in the Product Manager’s tool kit?
• What’s the most critical tool?
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
16. Laying Plans
• Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• Compare Attributes
• Look for Strategic Turns
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
17. Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• The foundation of good product/project
management
– Meaningful metrics
• Subjective and objective assessment
• Underlying causes -> next steps
– Searches for new and better ways to attract, retain
and satisfy team mates, sponsors and clients
• Reduce time to market
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
18. Thoroughly Assess Conditions
• Beyond the obvious
– Analysis of how to increase satisfaction
• Client? Team? Stakeholders?
– Use of customer or sponsor interaction to
• Improve current requirement requests
• Focus on the right important things
• Improve product management service
• Create new tools or process
• Expand into new market use
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
19. Compare Attributes
• Competitive strengths and weaknesses
– Collaboration versus competition
– Observe and incorporate other practices
– Recognize each team member’s motivation
– Champion of change
• Focus on common/shared goal
• Influence effective use of tools
• Adoption of “innovation”
– In personal as well as tools
• Facilitate the “now”
– Not how you think something should be
– Tweak what’s going on “NOW”.
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
20. Look for Strategic Turns
• Strategies beyond conventional rules
– People are the project manager’s tool set
• Exercise shifts in thinking
– Provide a "users’" perspective through Customer Activities
– Deployment Experts of our tools
• Focus on Solutions
– Problems clearly identifies gaps
– Solutions close those gaps
• Create opportunities from the inevitable
– Serviceability
– Inspections
– Corporate process adoptions
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
21. Waging War
• Marshal Adequate Resources
• Make Time Your Ally
• Everyone Must Profit from Victories
• Know Your Craft
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
22. Marshal Adequate Resources
• Invest Adequate Resources
– Hardware , people, time allocation
– Immediate versus future
• Maintenance schedules, Future Products ,
Career Development, Customer Care?
• Preparation for the next technology?
– Just in time training
– Individual Development Plans
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
23. Marshal Adequate Resources
• Invest Adequate Resources
– Everyone is a project manager
• Clone through training
• Reporting and Status
• Improve everyone’s estimation skills
• Assist everyone in understanding other’s
motivations
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
24. Make Time Your Ally
• BEE (Be Effective and Efficient)
– Automation and Optimization
• Reporting and Analysis
• Templates, autoresponders
– Skills
• Stay on top of technology
• Network for the skills/time you lack
– Minimize interrupt-driven activities
• Block/isolate email time
• Do Not Disturb – Office hours
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
25. Make Time Your Ally
• BEE
– Shift happens
• Expert in adjusting with speed and accuracy
– Execution
• Delayed action lose their positive quality
• Find ways to borrow versus re-invent
– Execution Tips
• External Commitments
• Make Important things Visible
– Subject Header Naming Convention
• Reasonable Forcing Functions
• Share the wealth (delegate)
– Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should
– Engage others
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
26. Make Time Your Ally
• The Key is to become rapidly effective and efficient
– Automation and Optimization
• Reporting and Analysis
• Templates, autoresponders
– Skills
• Stay on top of technology
• Network for the skills/time you lack
– Recognize That Shifts In Strategy Will Occur
• Expert in adjusting with speed and accuracy
– Execution
• Delayed action lose their positive quality
• Find ways to borrow versus re-invent
– Execution Tips
• External Commitments
• Make Important things Visible
• Reasonable Forcing Functions
• Share the wealth (delegate)
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
27. Everyone Must Profit from Victories
• Strengthen Human and Material assets with each Victory
• Win/Win
– Expand resources by recognizing who also needs it.
• Testing example: Tech Support, Customer Training, Field
Enablement
– Partner versus Adversarial
• Enhance the interaction between “seemingly opposite sides”
• Sit on same side of the table
– Attending Meetings/Conferences
• Materialize into something tangible
• Action item, FAQ, Press Release
• Trade Show demo, Technical Paper
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
28. Know Your Craft
• Master the expertise required to win
– Industry/Technology knowledge
– Marketing/Sales Knowledge
– Communication/negotiation skills
– Customer service and care
• Create your unique benefit
– Materialize the mastery
– What differentiates you?
• Find a Hero
– Seek knowledge from other experts
– Fill gap with other experts
– Seek out multiple mentors and coaches
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
29. Attack by Stratagem
• Win Without Fighting
• Strength Against Weakness – Always
• Beware of “High-Level Dumb”
• Obey Fundamental Principles
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
30. Win without Fighting
• The Ultimate Victory is to win without fighting
• Make the most of your assets
– Negotiating power depends upon how attractive NOT reaching an
agreement is
– Develop Best Alternatives to a Negotiated Agreement
– Search for the Higher Level Good.
• Focus on essence and not specific task
• Carve out a niche
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
31. Strength Against Weakness
• Battles are won by concentrating strengths
• Rules of ratios
– Example: Development to Tester ratios*
– Accomplished by playing with time and place
– Focus on the Spirit of the organization
• Can not be strong everywhere
– Defend yourself when you cannot defeat the enemy
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
32. Beware of “High-Level Dumb”
• Avoid acting without full knowledge of the situation
• Ask the right questions
– Aggressively Take The Initiative,
– Go Out, Talk To People, Get The Info You Need
• Support the intent versus just meeting numbers
– Begin with the End in Mind
• Take advantage of opportunities
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
33. Disposition of Military Strength
• Be Invincible
• Attain Strategic Superiority
• Use Information to Focus Resources
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
34. Be Invincible
• Build strengths that can take advantage of
opportunities
• DATA
– Quick, effective high level summaries
– Have external outside references and experts for details
• Understand how to properly apply the principles
– Flexibility without abandoning the vision or goals
– SHIFT Happens
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
35. Attain Strategic Superiority
• A successful strategy achieves victory before the
battle
• Risk Assessment and Contingency plans
– Probability, Impact, Plan
• Creates the condition for certain victory
– Early customer adoption and feedback
– Get Upfront Commitment
• Reviews
• Recovery Protocols *
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
36. Recovery Protocol Example
Add Optimize Compromise Accept
Attributes (Most Flex) (Less Flex) (Less Flex) (Least Flex)
Resource X
Scope X
Schedule X
Quality Criteria X
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
37. Employment of Secret Agents
• Collect All Available Data
• Invest In Intelligence Resource
• Establish An Active Intelligence System
• Practice Counterintelligence
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
38. Invest and Create An Intelligence
System
• Everyone you meet is a potential Agent
– Network, Network, Network
– Materialize something tangent from your
meetings
– Opportunities to Build Reputation
– Opportunities to build relationships toward next
career step
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
39. IT Professional Development Toolkit
• Release in May
– who, what, where, when and how to accomplish
all of the above.
• Contact:
– vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
40. Summary
• Pick your top 3 and start
– Which items struck a cord?
– Start with those.
The most influential person to you is YOU.
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
41. Administration
• Email
– LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
• More information:
– www.LauraLeeRose.com
• Author
– TimePeace: Making peace with time
– Purchase via: Amazon.com
• IT Professional Development Toolkit
– Release in May
© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com
42. Please Join Us Again!
AIPMM Webinar Series: Friday March 29
Becoming The "Social Product Manager"
http://aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars/
Global Product Management Talk: Monday March 25
Rich Mironov @RichMironov
Seasoned Product Executive, Tech Startup Veteran,
& Author, The Art of Product Management
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prodmgmttalk
Stay Informed!
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© AIPMM 2013 @AIPMM www.aipmm.com